Red The Maximus Holder *Book 1*

Chapter 6

Its been hours that I've been rattling in the back of this heavily armored truck waiting to meet my demise. Turns out Reed is putting me in a regimen further on the outskirts of the District, far from home. I thought he was kidding until I was harshly pushed into a helicopter whose ride I deduced lasted about a good 3 hours due to my innate counting of the seconds. After we landed I was forced into this truck where I've been in since for-fucking-ever.

I sighed into the stillness of the truck and the guards immediately perked up at my expression of indignation. They were tense and rightfully so. I looked over all 6 of them in the dull red muted light of the truck, the ambiance a good setting for my frustration and rage to fester on. I could see their disgust clearly as they all watched me. As they all anxiously waited for me to make a move at them. I looked down at the plasma cuffs around my wrists, daring to strain against them before a sharp zap sent me sucking air through my teeth from the pain.

Reed thought it was funny to add a new update to the cuffs for me to keep me in check.

Pretty smart of him.

I looked up at the guard in front of me, his lips set in a stern hyphen as his finger hovered eagerly over the trigger of the gun he was clutching romantically to his chest. This sent a thrill of amusement through me. To think I've had this deadly power all along and didn't even know. A Maximus he called it. I felt when my lips pulled up into a smirk at the thought and a hard sting went across my face, making my head instantly start throbbing. The guard across from me was standing now, bent at the waist to stare me in the face. He rocked with the motion of the truck effortlessly as he sneered at me.

"If you're even thinking about escaping you can kill the thought now, crazy bitch."

With as much venom he spat, his eyes held a different emotion. Fear. They all heard about what I could do and it's no doubt that they are putting up a farce to show who is in command. A power play. I looked down at my now clenched hands.

They can have this round.

We trudged along until I could feel the adrenaline finally leaving my system and I was suddenly tired and very hungry. I can't even remember the last time I ate. The truck roared mercilessly over divots and steeps and as the time went by I felt myself dozing off. My eyes were fluttering with a promise of a dream but as always fate seems to fail me because that's when the truck came to a jerking stop, the force propelling me sideways to knock my shoulder against the steel wall that separated the driver from the cargo hold. Even before I could recover myself, I was harshly jerked up by my arm and pushed through the truck doors, sending me sprawling into the earth's hard dirt with a grunt.

I scrambled up with a snarl as I went to attack the soldier but was snatched back by my uniform collar.

"Enough."

The woman's voice came from behind me and I was ready to protest until I turned and saw that her dark eyes were on the soldiers. Not me. She was beautiful with her striking dark skin and dyed red braided hair. Her natural colors mixed beautifully well with the white iridescence of her Core Commanders uniform, making it look pretty desirable to anyone's eyes like a mannequin wearing the latest fashion. Standing at almost 5 '10 with a slender muscular build the woman regarded the soldier with a hard glint in her eye. I minded the strong grip she had on my arm, testing to see if I was able to at least step out of her grasp. She held firm.

Damn she's strong. But then again she is in the Core as a Commander which would make her an Elitist. A person with heightened abilities.

"Now you know this is no way to treat a lady, boys." She regarded them playfully but the edge of authority was still there and they all saluted her stiffly. "Apologize." She demanded.